Below are some of the launches, space science and other events we anticipate. You’ll find these and others added to your calendar as their dates approach.

The moon will get some visitors

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CreditNASA/JPL

The year is set to start with a moon landing by China’s Chang’e-4 mission. The spacecraft launched in December and reached lunar orbit four and a half days later. If its lander and rover succeed, Chang’e-4 will be the first spacecraft to make a soft, or intact, landing on the moon’s far side — the side that always faces away from Earth.

The Chinese spacecraft may be the first of a series of lunar landings.

But Israel could get beaten to that distinction by India, which may launch Chandrayaan-2, the nation’s first moon lander and rover, as soon as late January. (Chandrayaan-1, an orbiter, launched in 2008.) The mission was expected to launch last year, but met with delays.

This lunar activity may serve as a setup for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when humans first walked on the moon. And China has the opportunity to bookend 2019 with a second moon mission, Chang’e-5, which could land on the moon late in the year, collect samples and later return them to Earth for study.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is scheduled for its first uncrewed test launch on Jan. 17. If that succeeds, a test launch with crew aboard could follow in June. Boeing’s Starliner also may fly with no crew in March, followed by a test flight carrying astronauts in August.

These companies could be joined by other small rocket makers in 2019. One company likely to make it to space is Virgin Orbit. Related to Virgin Galactic, the company sends rockets high into the atmosphere aboard a 747 jet plane, and then releases and launches them into orbit. Its preparations for a test launch appeared to be progressing toward the end of 2018.

Another contender, Vector, was started by a founder of SpaceX and aims to mass-produce small rockets on the cheap. It could complete its first orbital test this year, from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska.

Other private operators may materialize, too. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin has been steadily testing its New Shepard rocket. And Falcon Heavy, following its exciting test launch last February, could carry satellites to high orbits twice in the first half of this year.

Last year’s new missions may yield discoveries

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An image made by the Parker Solar Probe of a coronal streamer on Nov. 8. The bright spot is the planet Mercury (and the dark spots are from background correction).CreditNASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe

We may also learn the fate of NASA’s Opportunity rover. Last summer a giant dust storm covered Mars and kept sunlight from reaching the robotic explorer’s solar batteries; since then, the rover has been silent. Its controllers on Earth have been trying to re-establish contact for months, and may need to consider discontinuing its mission.

Michael Roston is the senior staff editor for science. He was previously a social media editor for The Times and a home page producer. @michaelroston

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D2 of the New York edition with the headline: Space, 2019: A Calendar That Is Definitely Out of This World. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe